Now that their dream candidate has abandoned them — or vice-versa — the Marlins still need a manager, and Jon Heyman says that they’re “strongly” considering Diamondbacks’ coach Bo Porter for the job. Keep in mind that Heyman also had Valentine in San Juan today managing the Marlins, so it’s possible that his sources with the Feesh are less than solid.

Still, if Porter is being considered it would be quite a reversal from last week when his name first came up as a candidate. At the time it was thought — probably correctly — that the Marlins were just going through the motions of interviewing Porter and interim manager Edwin Rodriguez so as to appease a Commissioner’s Office which fines teams who don’t interview minority candidates (Porter is black).

It’s possible, I suppose, that whoever is sourcing Heyman’s story is merely floating Porter in order to make him seem like less of a token candidate and to distract the media from what appears to have been a trainwreck of a hiring process with respect to Valentine.

But it’s also possible, is it not, that the Commissioner’s Office’s insistence on teams considering minority candidates is paying off. I mean, sure, maybe Porter first came on the radar as a formality on the way to hiring Bobby Valentine, but if he sticks on the radar as a viable candidate after not being seriously thought of in the first place, hasn’t the “interview minorities” policy worked some good?

It’s an interesting question that would be even more interesting if Jeff Loria wasn’t kind of crazy and impossible and annoying.

I’m always happy to see talented and qualified minority candidates land managerial jobs, but neither Bo Porter nor anyone else, regardless of their race, skin color, ethnic origins, sexual orientation (isn’t that odd, I always face west myself), number of body segments, average size of egg clutch, length of aestivation period, hemoglobin or chlorophyll, positive or negative heliotropism, thickness of outer membrane, whatever, is going to make a winner out of this team as long as Scrooge McLoria insists that you can win on a shoestring in major league baseball.
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Incidentally, anyone notice how Scrooge’s hair is beginning to resemble Gene Wilder’s in Young Frankenstein lately?

Marlins fan here (sigh) and this move scares me. Porter couldn’t coach third base when he was here, how would he manage? Loria is again thinking of ways to remain cheap.
Mark Cuban, PLEASE BUY THE MARLINS!

I only feed a mouse to my pet rattlesnake, Friendo, once a week or so, so I really used to enjoy watching Bo Porter feed Feesh baserunners to the opposing catcher day in, day out. So entertaining, like watching a Canaanite priest feeding babies to Moloch. I wouldn’t mind him becoming the next manager of the Feesh as long as he works from third base.